Bendigonians will have a chance to contribute to life-saving services while shopping for a bargain when a Lifeline op shop opens at Long Gully next month.
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Lifeline Loddon Mallee's Lisa Renato said the Wood Street store would stock a lot of household goods, furniture and sporting gear as well as clothes.
"There will be bric a brac - homewares, DVDs and CDs and we've got a book nook," she said.
Pricing would be competitive.
The shop would provide the organisation, which only receives around 20 per cent of its operating costs from the state government, another source of funds, the executive officer said.
While most people didn't know Lifeline was operating in Bendigo, its call centre had been running here for 25 years, Ms Renato said.
Lifeline currently has 80 trained volunteers across the Loddon Mallee region - which stretches from Bendigo to Mildura - who last financial year answered over over 18,000 calls to its 13 11 14 crisis line.
The organisation also offers face-to-face counselling, mental health first aid, domestic violence awareness and suicide intervention at its CBD office.
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The new shop would also be "another way for the community to come in and connect with our services and with Lifeline," Ms Renato said.
"A lot of what we are hearing at the moment is about cost of living so a thrift store kind of feels timely," she said.
Housed in a building formerly home to Bendigo Sheet Metal, which was "literally a shed", the distinctive blue shop has been fitted out over the last few weeks with significant help from NSW-based construction company the Girvan Group.
Ms Renato said there was a personal link between staff at the two organisations and Girvan's leaders were motivated by a strong desire to contribute to suicide prevention.
The company, which normally did "massive projects in major cities" had shown "heartfelt generosity" in donating its services to the project and had "left an indelible mark," with most of the fit-out, including air conditioning and heating units and carpet tiles, donated by the group or heavily discounted by its subcontractors.
Lifeline was putting out a call both for volunteers and donations of second hand items for the new shop, which opens on November 6, Ms Renato said.
"People can come into the store or jump onto our website."
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